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NEWS ABOUT: arranged marriage

Teen Couple Leap to Deaths After Her Forced Marriage

Bangladeshi pair ended their lives on Valentine's Day

(Newser) - A love affair between two teens in Bangladesh ended in tragedy after the 16-year-old girl's family married her off to a man twice her age. The girl and her 17-year-old boyfriend tied their hands together with a scarf and jumped to their deaths from a mobile phone tower, the... More »

Woman Sues Over Oklahoma 'Slave Marriage'

Diptiben Mistry says she was brought from India to be 'house slave'

(Newser) - An Indian woman is suing her in-laws for an arranged "slave marriage" in their Oklahoma home. Diptiben Mistry was a 20-year-old college student in India when she married her Indian husband four years ago and moved with him to live at her in-laws' US home. There, Mistry says, her... More »

Indian Town Outlaws Cell Phones for Single Women

... To stop them from eloping

(Newser) - A council in northern India has forbidden all unmarried women from carrying cell phones, in an effort to prevent them from eloping with people of different castes. At least 23 young couples ran off and got married without their parents’ consent last year in Uttar Pradesh state, the AFP explains.... More »

Thousands Marry in Mass Moonie Wedding

40,000 gather for blessing of Sun Myung Moon in Korea

(Newser) - He is nearly 90 years old, but Sun Myung Moon—cult leader, Washington Times founder, self-proclaimed Messiah—can still draw a crowd. The leader of the Unification Church led a mass wedding for some 40,000 people outside of Seoul today, on the campus of, yes, Sun Moon University. It... More »

Indians Arrange Marriages Via Reality TV

(Newser) - In the distant past, Indian parents arranged marriages with the help of relations and local priests. These days, they’re turning to Rupert Murdoch. News Corp’s Star TV has launched a daily reality show called Star Vivaah, or Star Weddings, a kind of video personals for prospective brides, grooms,... More »

Saudi Child Bride's Marriage Annulled

Wedding to middle-aged man sparked global controversy

(Newser) - The marriage of an eight-year-old Saudi girl to a man in his 50s that drew worldwide attention has been annulled in an out-of-court settlement, the BBC reports. A judge had twice denied the girl—reportedly married off by her father to pay a debt—a divorce. The case has led... More »

Saudis to Crack Down After Man Weds 8-Year-Old

Child marriages will be 'regulated'; no evidence they'll be barred

(Newser) - Amid an uproar over an adult man’s marriage to an 8-year-old girl, Saudi Arabia will begin regulating child marriage, the BBC reports. The country’s justice minister wants to end the “arbitrary” process, he said, though he didn’t say such matches would be banned. A court upheld... More »

Saudi Court Blocks Marriage to 8-Year-Old Girl

Mother wins appeal against daughter's arranged marriage

(Newser) - A Saudi Arabian appeals court has thrown out a ruling upholding an 8-year-old girl's marriage to a 47-year-old man, reports CNN. The marriage—arranged by the girl's father to settle a debt—still stands for now under Saudi law. But the ruling sustains a legal challenge to the marriage by... More »

Reality Show to Feature Arranged Marriage

Brains behind Top Chef , Project Runway team for venture

(Newser) - A series following arranged marriages is CBS’ next big reality-TV venture, James Hibberd writes on his Hollywood Reporter blog. The show, from the producers behind Project Runway and Top Chef, will follow four unlucky-in-love singles whose friends and family select a spouse; cameras will then continue to follow the couples... More »

Cops Bust Dad Who Married Off Girl, 14, for Beer

Arranged marriage legit in Mexico, but trafficking minors in Calif.

(Newser) - Something got lost in translation when a California man arranged for his 14-year-old daughter to marry an 18-year-old neighbor in exchange for cash, beer, and meat, reports the San Jose Mercury News. When the bridegroom failed to pay the promised $16,000, 160 cases of beer, and six cases... More »

Saudi Girl, 8, Can't Divorce Husband, 58: Court

Case must wait until girl hits puberty; she still lives with mother

(Newser) - An 8-year-old Saudi girl will remain married to her 58-year-old husband after a court struck down her mother’s request for a divorce, the Daily Mail reports. The hard-up father, who is divorced from the mother, signed a contract in August and received a dowry of about $7,400. The... More »

Men Are Victims of Forced Marriage, Too

Unwilling grooms often have few avenues of escape from family pressure

(Newser) - Young men in Germany's Turkish immigrant community are being forced into marriage by their families, Der Speigel reports. Organizations that help people escape from such marriages say the focus on female victims overlooks the fact that men are also being harassed, blackmailed and beaten into marriages, often to a close... More »

Teens Buried Alive in 'Honor Killings' Spark Pakistan Rage

They wanted to choose their own husbands

(Newser) - Nationwide protests have erupted in Pakistan since three teenage girls were buried alive in mid-July in a remote village because they planned to choose their own husbands, reports the Times of London. The girls—ages 14, 16 and 18—were abducted and tortured, then buried still breathing. Two older women... More »

Georgia Dad Charged in Daughter's 'Honor Killing'

Pakistani-born man denies strangling daughter who wanted divorce

(Newser) - A Pakistani-born Georgia man appeared in court yesterday accused of strangling his daughter with a bungee cord after she filed for divorce, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The man's wife told police that he had argued with his 25-year-old daughter over her plans to end her arranged marriage. The father maintains... More »

Divorcee, 8, Tells of Abuse in Yemen

Girl 'cried so much but no one listened'

(Newser) - An 8-year-old girl granted a divorce by a Yemeni court last week has described how she ran from "room to room" to escape her 30-year-old husband until he "beat me and then did what he wanted," reports ABC News. "I cried so much, but no one... More »

More Afghan Families Using Girls to Pay Debt

Farmers hit by crop woes give daughters as 'opium brides'

(Newser) - Besieged by debt, more Afghan farmers are paying lenders by handing over their girls as "loan brides," Newsweek reports. Often taken from their families forever, the girls—some younger than 5 years old—are commonly beaten or pushed to suicide by their fate. "My heart is still... More »

South Koreans Turn to Cambodia to Buy Wives

Government decries 'human trafficking' on rise after Vietnam crackdown

(Newser) - A clampdown on marriage brokers in Vietnam has made neighboring Cambodia the new destination for South Korean men seeking to buy wives, the AP reports. About 2,500 Cambodian women have married Koreans this way in the past four years in a process in which men choose from as many... More »

Polygamist Boss Ordered Girl to 'Surrender' to Husband

Jeffs charged with rape as an accomplice

(Newser) - Polygamist Warren Jeffs was accused yesterday of ordering a 14-year-old girl to surrender to her older cousin in an arranged marriage. That amounts to rape as an accomplice, prosecutors charged in the first day of Jeffs' trial. Church members consider their leader “God on Earth" who could only be... More »

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